Dashain 2026 (2083) in KathmanduTika on Wednesday 21 October — dates, holidays and what's on

The week before Fulpati is the busiest the city gets: Asan, Indra Chowk and New Road are shoulder to shoulder with people buying clothes, goats and kites, the bus parks at Gongabu and Koteshwor are a scrum, and every road out of the valley is a queue. Then, from about Fulpati, it flips. Roughly a third of the valley's people go home to the districts, traffic vanishes, the air clears, and Kathmandu turns into a quiet, blue-skied version of itself with the Himalaya on the horizon most mornings.

Government offices, schools, banks and most offices close from Fulpati through Ekadashi (17–22 October); many small shops shut for the tika days. What stays open: the big supermarkets and malls, most hotels and hotel restaurants, the tourist-facing cafés and bars of Thamel, Jhamsikhel and Lazimpat (many on shorter hours on 21 October), petrol stations, and the temples — which are busier than ever. ATMs run dry in the last days before Fulpati, so draw cash early.

Fly a kite. Dashain is kite season — changa chait — and every rooftop in the valley is a launch pad from Ghatasthapana on; kites, thread and lattai are sold on every street corner in Asan. Go up to a rooftop at 4 pm and watch the sky fill. The linge ping (bamboo swings) go up in the villages on the valley rim — Bungamati, Khokana, Sankhu, Changunarayan, the hill villages above Kirtipur — and anyone is welcome for a turn.

Watch the Fulpati parade on Saturday 17 October: the phulpati procession from Rani Pokhari to Hanuman Dhoka with the Gurujuko Paltan in full dress, and the army's feu de joie at Tundikhel around midday. On Maha Navami (Tuesday 20) the Taleju temple in Kathmandu Durbar Square — closed to the public every other day of the year — opens its doors, and the Kot courtyard behind Hanuman Dhoka holds the traditional sacrifices from early morning. The nine mornings of Navaratri are the time to see the Durga shrines at their fullest: Shobha Bhagwati on the Bishnumati, Naxal Bhagwati, Guhyeshwari by Pashupati, Dakshinkali on its Tuesday and Saturday, and Bhaktapur's Navadurga dances.

It is also the best two weeks of the year for the mountains: clear post-monsoon skies mean the mountain flights and the ridges — Nagarkot, Chandragiri, Shivapuri, Phulchowki — actually show you the Himalaya. And there is a Dashain events calendar: melas at Bhrikuti Mandap and Tundikhel, pre-Dashain concerts through the first week, Dashain-special nights at the bars that stay open, and post-tika family days. The confirmed ones are listed on this page as organisers post them.

Vijaya Dashami itself, Wednesday 21 October, is a family day: tika and jamara from the eldest, then a circuit of relatives' homes that runs on through the week to Purnima. If you are invited, go — it is the most hospitable day of the Nepali year, you will be fed more than you can eat, and a small gift for the house is the right form. Almost nothing commercial happens on the 21st; the concert and nightlife calendar picks back up from the weekend of 24–25 October.

For visitors, October is the month everyone tells you to come, and Dashain is why the hotels are full: book accommodation and mountain flights well ahead, expect long-distance buses to be sold out for the week either side of Fulpati, and plan for closed offices if you need a permit or a visa extension — the Department of Immigration follows the government holidays. Trekking permits are best sorted before 17 October.

Dashain is Nepal's biggest festival — fifteen days honouring the goddess Durga, capped by the tika and jamara on Vijaya Dashami when families gather across generations. Kathmandu empties as people head home; kites fill the sky and ping (bamboo swings) go up in the courtyards.

Dashain peaks in October, and in 2026 the main day falls on Wednesday, 21 October 2026. Because it moves with the calendar each year, the surrounding events — dinners, concerts, cultural nights and parties — tend to appear in the weeks just before. If the grid above is quiet, it simply means we're out of season: bookmark this page and check back as October nears.